A Nighttime Comfort
by Posthumous Immortality
Summary: Two princesses, opposites in personality and origin, find a common comfort on a dark night. Revelation Route, Post-Chapter 14.


Corrin gazed pensively out her bedroom window. Just a few months ago, she would have been staring at a thick, seemingly endless forest of Nohrian pine trees. Now, her view was of the wide open, moonlit courtyard of her castle in the Astral Plane. She couldn't deny the recent success of her army; reuniting with both her younger sister and childhood best friend in Port Dia, while fighting off a legion of Nohrian forces that same day was no easy task. Even still, she was feeling the pressures of leadership more with each passing day. So many people had already put their faith in her, most of them just blindly trusting her, and there was still no indication that achieving peace would get any easier. Ryoma was beginning to waver, surely, especially with the influence of Scarlet, but Xander…

"Are you ever going to stop for a moment and listen to me, Xander?" she murmured out loud.

A soft knock on her door, followed by two louder ones, brought her out of an emotional tailspin. Corrin knew that it was far too late at night for Jakob to consider disturbing her, and if there was a surprise attack on the castle, there would certainly be more noise. She turned away from the window and stumbled to the door.

Her hand froze just before she could turn the handle. She felt extremely tense, a byproduct of countless skirmishes that had conditioned her to be constantly on edge. Exhaling slowly, she opened the door, the faint candlelight revealing her blonde-haired little sister, wearing her pyjamas and crossing her arms to her chest.

"Elise? Is everything alright?" Corrin said, reaching up to stroke the girl's hair.

"Is… is it okay if I sleep with you tonight?" Elise's expression was unusually solemn, and her eyes glittered, like dark violet gemstones.

Swinging the door out wider, Corrin pulled her sister into a tight hug, swaying gently. "Of course you can. What's bothering you?"

The girl sniffled slightly, burying her head into Corrin's chest. "I just really missed you while you were gone… Everyone was saying mean things about you, and I wanted to say something, but I couldn't, and now that I've found you, I don't want to lose you again, and—"

"Shh, shh… You don't need to worry. I'm not going anywhere."

"I'm really scared, Corrin… I don't know what's going to happen to us… Xander doesn't want to listen to you, Leo spends all night studying battle strategy now, and then we're here trying to make them cooperate with the Hoshidans… It just seems so impossible, and I don't know what to do."

Corrin forced a mask of calm onto her face. It didn't matter that Elise had just verbalized the same problem that had kept her awake, she needed to be a big sister and relaxing influence.

"Tell you what, little one. Let's go to bed now, I'll sing you a lullaby, and you'll feel better in the morning."

"Mmm, that sounds nice… Thanks, sis…"

* * *

Again, Corrin found herself staring aimlessly at an unchanging scene. This time, it was the wooden rafters of her treehouse ceiling. Beside her lay Elise, sound asleep after a few stanzas of quiet singing. The blonde-haired princess had latched onto her older sister when the two first lay down, and only when sleeping did she relax her hold slightly.

Faint creaking on the boards outside made Corrin sit up. On some nights, the wind would blow enough that the tree would rock, causing parts to squeak at random. However, the noises were repeatedly moving back and forth the balcony, giving the impression that someone was pacing outside.

She gently slipped out of Elise's grasp, the Nohrian girl grumbling in her sleep and flailing her arms around in search of her sister. Slinking towards the door, Corrin didn't hesitate, and pulled it open without hesitation. A slight girl in a sleeping robe, a crisp breeze blowing through her shoulder length pink hair, stood outside, poised to knock. Her face showed first surprise, and then embarrassment, turning faintly red.

"C-Corrin! I'm so sorry for b-bothering you this late…"

"Is there something on your mind, Sakura?"

Her face fell, and her eyes stared at the ground. "Well… I-it was just a bad dream. I shouldn't have woken you up."

The dragon princess reached forward and lightly tilted her other younger sister's chin up. "Tell me what happened. If it's enough to wake you in the middle of the night, then I want to hear about it."

"I dreamed… that you had been kidnapped again. I d-don't know by who, or why they did it, but it fr-frightened me enough that I wanted to check on you. Just in case you were gone." Sakura shivered slightly in the cool air. "Do… you think I can stay w-with you for a while? F-for a few minutes, and then I promise to go back to bed."

Corrin nodded immediately, taking hold of her sister's hand. "Sure you can. If, um, you don't mind a little bit of company," she said, briefly glancing back at the sleeping form of Elise.

The Hoshidan princess' cheeks flushed deeply, and her stammer became more pronounced. "O-oh. I'm s-sorry, I didn't r-realize that s-someone else was here…"

Staring in bewilderment at Sakura's odd reaction, Corrin quickly realized what was being implied. "It's just Elise, you don't have to be concerned. And although she's sleeping right now, I doubt that she'd mind," she added quickly.

She could see the pink-haired girl visibly relax, letting out a held breath. "Oh… I d-don't know what I was thinking..."

Corrin laughed softly, mindful of the dozing Nohrian princess curled up in the bed behind her. "Come inside, now, you're going to catch a cold if you stand out here for too long."

Sakura smiled gratefully. "Th-thank you so much, big sister."

Even though she may have originally intended to linger for but a handful of minutes, the Hoshidan girl clearly was more than happy to snuggle underneath the thick blankets and clutch Corrin's arm when the older girl eventually insisted that Sakura remain for the rest of the night.

"I don't want you walking back to your room in the pitch black. If you fall and hurt yourself, no one would find you until sunrise."

Nestling against Corrin's chest, Sakura quietly hummed her agreement. Within minutes, she had slumped down, eyes closed, peacefully asleep at last. On the other side of the bed, Elise, stirring slightly from the noise, had instinctively took hold of her older sister, keeping her from moving away again. The three slept in silence, as the candle burned down beside them.

* * *

 **Particularly awful.**


End file.
